Tyring to help a library colleague track down a book for a patron. The patron remembers the details of the story, but not the author or title. It may not strictly be a romance book. This is what I've been told of the story...

"[patron] has neither the title nor the author but says that she read it about three years ago. This is what we know:

historical romance
set in USA (perhaps Boston?)
period late 1800's early 1900's

Heroine - sold by her father to a wealthy man
- breaks her leg trying to return to her father and is deformed when it heals
- eventually marries the man to whom she's been sold
- now a rich widow, she moves to Boston or New York to buy 'the perfect house' with a ballroom. She dreams that if she wears a special gown (perhaps lavender in colour) that, on her birthday, her father will come back

Enter the hero

The house she buys belongs to him and his brother and they are neighbours because it is actually one half of a larger house which has been divided.
There is an incident when she first moves in with loud music playing

The heroe's brother is gay but the hero doesn't know this and is trying to marry him off to someone
This fact becomes a point of conflict between hero and heroine as the hero eventually discovers that the heroine has known his brother to be gay and he's annoyed that she didn't tell him

The hero and heroine accidentally meet in a restaurant where the hero 'freaks out' and leaves. Later he finds heroine passed out in the snow and he takes her home and discovers her deformity. Later the heroine trys to make him commit a spontaneous act by ringing the town bell, which chimes on the hour, at a false time and when he won't she teases him about it.

The hero has been trying to find her father so that he can have him arrive at her birthday ball but he is unsuccessful and, at the ball, as her dreams fall apart she has a break-down. To try and console her the hero then goes and rings the town bell.

There may also be a scene in which the heroine makes some biscuits which turn out horribly."

Too funny! We obviously work in the same state It was 50/50 to ask on here or send it on through to SBTB. If I'd been over there recently I would have seen someone had beaten me to the goodness of the interwebs to seek an answer.

I've read a couple of books in this series and quite enjoyed them. I can't remember if I read this one or not but I know I read the other two. I wish they would come out in eformat._________________KristieJ.blogspot.ca
"reading is dreaming with open eyes" - Yoyo